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Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation review

Can't wait for Modern Warfare 3? Get your FPS thrills with this pocketable iOS edition. The gaming and gadget experts at Stuff.tv review Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

£4.99

07 November 2011/11:57GMT

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation drops you right in the middle of an America that has been invaded by KPR forces – that's Korea, Pakistan and Russia. Cue lots of 'hell no, not on my turf'-style voice acting as the American forces fight to take back their homeland.

The game borrows heavily from console FPS titles – most notably Call of Duty – but while it isn't the most original game out there, it's certainly near the top of the mobile FPS pile.

As far as controls go, it does as good a job as anyone has managed for an FPS on a touchscreen so far. And with a little digging you'll find options for switching between three different control styles, as well as repositioning and resizing controls. We recommend dragging that awkwardly positioned sprint button away from the centre as a first priority.

Single player campaign offers up 13 missions spanning six countries from the USA to Pakistan, and as you gain experience points you can upgrade your weapons and armour, or buy them as in-app purchases if you're feeling flush and impatient.

As you'd expect, the route through the various maps can be a pretty linear affair, and it's frustrating when you can jump over a small blockade in some places, but then you're incapable of pushing past a chair in a control room.

The enemy AI isn't doesn't use the sharpest code in the box either, as they often repeat each others' moves, though you'll find their bullets have the annoying habit of penetrating seemingly solid cover.

Multiplayer, however, is where this game really has the potential to shine. Available over local Wi-Fi or online, it supports up to 12 players in a range of seven different game modes, with new modes 'Destruction', 'Zone Control' and 'Manhunt' adding to the variety. However it's hampered by Gameloft's unreliable servers which mean you'll find that connecting can be impossible at times, and it'll regularly forget large chunks of your progress.

Visually stunning and with fast-paced gameplay, Fallen Nation is a great effort, and though it's let down by unreliable multiplayer servers and a couple of annoyances in single player, it's still flying the flag for touchscreen FPS games.

Stuff says...

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation review

Great looking and packed with fun action, but multiplayer is unreliable